Some stories not only provoke thoughts but also preserve the introspective pain of loss and oblivion. Forgetting Dad is one such story that invites audiences into a narrative wash of memory, identity, and time as one man's life was turned around in an accident. For this 2008 documentary, that is not just backstory but an emotional heft still resonating in the streaming era of 2025. 

Where to watch this decade-old, poignant record of family, love, and loss?

Forgetting Dad (2008) does appear on Netflix's catalog as a documentary in the USA library. However, it is available to watch in a few other regions on Netflix as well as Amazon Prime Video. Luckily, there are alternative US streaming possibilities. The movie can be streamed for free with advertisements on services such as FuboTV, and for rent or subscription through services like AppleTV. It has also been released on several documentary-friendly free streaming platforms.  

The 84-minute documentary is also available to stream on PlexPlayer, hoopla, Kanopy, Fawsome, and the Roku channel for free, both with or without ads. That gives viewers a variety of paths to access the documentary, which premiered in 2008, without having to rely exclusively on Netflix. Created by Rick Minnich and Matt Sweetwood, it revolves around Minnich's personal family history. It traces his father's long and inexplicable amnesia, making it relevant for its unvarnished honesty regarding loss of memory, relationships, and identity. 

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The film intercuts personal footage and interviews with emotional commentary, leaving viewers full of questions and contemplation.

At its heart, Forgetting Dad is personal. Written by Rick Minnich and Matt Sweetwood, the film centers around a 45-year-old man suffering and recovering from amnesia following an accident as he begins a new life with a new family. Sixteen years later, his oldest son finds him, and they try to navigate memory loss, altered identity, and pain together. The film is an emotional excavation of a father's most precious memories lost after he forgets his previous life, including his children.

In a poignant attempt to reconnect through film, questions, and familial presence, combining footage of the father's old friends and family with medical proof and personal letters, Minnich and Sweetwood shed light on doubts whether the memories were truly gone or it was a hoax. Though not a part of Netflix's most acclaimed documentaries, it is available to stream widely with a promise of haunting even in long-coveted reunions.

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